CELPIP Reading Part 4: Reading to a News Item Reading Samples

 

The German physician Samuel Hahnemann is credited for inventing homoeopathy. Hahnemann began experimenting with quinine, an alkaloid produced from cinchona bark that was well recognised at the time to have a favourable effect on fever, during his studies in the 1790s. While in good health, Hahnemann began taking quinine and recorded in his journals that his extremities were cold, he had palpitations, "infinite worry," shaking and weakening of the limbs, reddening face, and thirst.

 

"In short," he said, "all the signs of relapsing fever appeared one after the other..." The main observation of Hahnemann was that items that cause problems in healthy people also cause issues in sick people, and this formed his first homoeopathic principle: similia similibus (with help from the same). 

 

While the efficiency of similia similibus was validated by subsequent discoveries in the field of immunizations, it did so against the principle of apothecary practise at the time, which was contraria contrariis (with the help of the opposite). The second concept of Hahnemann was minimal dose, which said that medications should be administered in the most diluted form possible while yet remaining effective. In case it ruled out any potential toxicity from similia similibus.

 

When French immunologist Jacques Benveniste published an article in the prominent scientific journal Science in 1988, he took minimum dosage to new heights. Human basophil granulocytes, the least frequent of the granulocytes that make up about 0.01 percent to 0.3 percent of white blood cells, may be affected by very high dilutions of the antibody, according to a study published in Nature. The point of contention, however, was that the water in Benveniste's test had been diluted to the point that any molecular evidence of antibodies had vanished.

 

The scientists determined that water molecules had a biologically active component, which a journalist later coined "water memory." Attempts by scientists in the United Kingdom, France, and the Netherlands to replicate Benveniste's work were failed, and no peer-reviewed study under widely accepted conditions has been able to establish the reality of "water memory" to this day.

 

Using the drop-down menu, choose the best option according to the information given on the website.

 

1. In the late 18th century, Hahnemann discovered that quinine was able to __________.
2. The effectiveness of vaccinations also helps to ___________.
3. Benveniste argued in the journal Nature that water molecules possess the ability to ___________.
4. Attempts to verify Benveniste’s findings were unable to ___________.

 

Options:

 

1. avoid the unpredictable outcome of combining many remedies at once
2. explain the success of 18th-century apothecary medicine.
3. produce fever-like symptoms in a healthy person.
4. keep antibody molecules active in parts as low as 0.01%.
5. support the notion of similia similibus.
6. offer more remedial choice.
7. produce a less effective dose.
8. recreate the original results.
9. retain qualities of an antibody to which they were previously exposed.
10. satisfy the demand for hovers.
11. treat effectively someone with a fever.

 

Answers

1. produce fever-like symptoms in a healthy person.
2. support the notion of similia similibus.
3. retain qualities of an antibody to which they were previously exposed.
4. recreate the original results.

 

The following is a comment by a visitor to the website page. Complete the comment by choosing the best option to fill in each blank.

 

It is quite interesting to note that Samuel Hahnemann __________________, an alkaloid produced from cinchona bark, during his studies in the 1790s. He observed that items that ______________ also cause issues in sick people. This formed his first homoeopathic principle: similia similibus which means __________________. The second concept was minimal dose, which said that _____________________ in the most diluted form possible while yet remaining effective.

 

Options:

 

1. Is credited for his experiments.
2. help recover from diseases.
3. with the help from the same.
4. medications shouldn’t be delivered.
5. began experimenting with quinine
6. medications should be administered
7. cause problems in healthy people
8. with the help of the opposite

 

Answer: 

 

1. began experimenting with quinine
2. cause problems in healthy people
3. with help from the same
4. medications should be administered